Vegan Kale Pesto is a delicious way to get your greens in! Made with 5 ingredients in 5 minutes, it's vibrant, packed with flavour, and a great alternative to traditional basil pesto. I love it stirred through pasta for a very fast and easy meal!
FEATURED COMMENT:
"Oh, Mel! This was delicious!! We have sooo much kale in our garden, and since I've made so many of your recipes and loved them, I was confident we would enjoy this one too, and we were not disappointed! I'll be making this one on repeat!" - Michelle ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ More reviews →
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Here's the deal. Pesto. But not your average pesto. Today we are making pesto from kale. It's a very delicious way to get lots of greens in!
Vegan Kale Pesto is deep green, with a chunky, nutty texture and a really great depth of flavour thanks to lots of garlic and cheesy nutritional yeast. Kale also happens to be a lot cheaper than basil, which helps make this recipe a real winner!
I love this vegan pesto stirred through freshly cooked pasta with a sprinkle of grated vegan parmesan cheese and some vegan garlic bread on the side, but there are lots of other ways to use it, including:
- In my Creamy Vegan Pesto Pasta Salad.
- In homemade salad dressings and vinaigrettes.
- On pizza instead of pizza sauce, or as well as!
- In sandwiches, paninis, and wraps.
- Dolloped on grain, pasta, or rice bowls.
- On roasted or steamed vegetables.
- To flavour soups, sauces, and stews.
Mel x
🤍 WHY YOU'LL LOVE MY VEGAN KALE PESTO
- Really quick and easy. You can have it ready to go in minutes
- Made with just a few simple ingredients
- A great way to use up lots of kale
- Simple, fresh, and flavourful
- No cooking
- It's incredibly versatile and can instantly elevate many savoury dishes
- It's packed with healthy fats and nutrients
Ingredients
To make Vegan Kale Pesto, you will need these ingredients:
- Nuts - Almonds in pesto are delicious, and I love to use them for this recipe. If you don't have any walnuts, cashews, or pine nuts will work well. Sunflower seeds or pumpkin seeds are a great nut-free alternative.
- Kale - Any variety of kale is fine to use. It makes such a great alternative to the usual fresh basil.
- Nutritional yeast - This gives the cheesy, umami flavour of parmesan. It is much cheaper, naturally dairy-free, and gives WAY more flavour than using store-bought vegan parmesan cheese. Important when it needs to stand out against the strong kale flavour.
- Extra virgin olive oil - A good quality one for the very best flavour.
- Garlic - Fresh is best here due to the minimal ingredients, but if you need to use jarlic I'd just add a tiny bit more to make up for the lack of freshness.
- Salt and pepper - I recommend using freshly ground black pepper and a good quality sea salt. If you have to use table salt, you will need to reduce the amount used.
Expert Tip
When serving kale pesto with pasta, scoop out a cup of starchy pasta boiling water before you drain the pasta. When mixing the pesto through the hot, drained pasta, add a little of the starchy water. It will thin the pesto, make it glossy, and the starch in the water will encourage it to cling and coat the pasta.
Recipe
Vegan Kale Pesto
Author:WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT
Ingredients
- 1 bunch kale , about ½lb or 232 grams, but it doesn't need to be exact. You can use a bit more or less.
- ½ cup (120 mls) extra virgin olive oil
- 3 large cloves of garlic
- ½ cup (32 grams) nutritional yeast
- ½ cup (72 grams) raw almonds
- ¾ teaspoon fine sea salt , plus more to taste
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper , plus more to taste
- water to thin
RECOMMENDED EQUIPMENT
INSTRUCTIONS
- Wash the kale and strip the leafy parts from the stems. Discard the stems and roughly chop the leaves.
- Add the kale, olive oil, garlic, nutritional yeast, roughly half of the almonds, and salt and pepper to a food processor.
- Process until it becomes a thick, slightly chunky pesto.
- Add more olive oil or a little water to thin as desired and check the seasoning, adding more salt and pepper if necessary.
- Add the remaining almonds and pulse until they are chopped but not too small. A nutty, chunky texture is really good!
NOTES
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Michelle says
Oh, Mel! This was delicious!! We have sooo much kale in our garden and since I've made so many of your recipes and loved them, I was confident we would enjoy this one too, and we were not disappointed! I'll be making this one on repeat!
Melanie McDonald says
I'm really pleased you loved it, Michelle! It's such a great way to use up loads of kale. Thank you so much for your review!
Nicky says
Hi Melanie I’d love to make this but is it possible to tell me how many grams of kale to use as I can only buy pre-cut kale rather than large leaves?
Melanie McDonald says
I've never seen kale in bags. It always comes in bunches here. It would be about 6 cups chopped though. I have no idea what that would be in grams. If you don't have measuring cups use any cup or mug that holds about 240ml. Next time I have a bunch I'll weigh it and update the recipe. This recipe doesn't need to be too exact so feel free to tweak all the other ingredients to taste. Enjoy!
Nicky says
Thank you - I used all of the 200g bag I had in the end and took your advice to just tweak as a I went along - I reckon that was probably about the amount you used though. It was delicious! So much cheaper than basil and at least as nice.
Melanie McDonald says
So pleased you enjoyed it Nicky!
Lisa Lee says
Hi Melanie,
Do I need to roast the almond?
Melanie McDonald says
You can if you want to but I never do.
Karen says
This recipe is a crowd pleaser!
Love it but would recommend adding juice of one lemon which I did.
Theresa Martin says
I would like to make this but with parsley rather than kale. The reason being the late fall garden harvest is full off parsley. Any thoughts on whether parsley would substitute well.
Thank you
Susan says
What a fabulous way to use kale! We get a lot of kale from our CSA and this recipe has just become my favorite way to use kale!
Karen Haworth says
Just made this as a filling for tortellini. I thought I would have to add fresh basil For flavor. I was wrong. Great recipe...I will let you know how the tortellini turns out! My only addition.was crushed red pepper because I love it!
A Virtual Vegan says
I'm really pleased you are liking the pesto. I can imagine how good that tortellini will be. My mouth is watering at the thought. Enjoy!
Lucile says
Hi,
I just made the recipe (without the nutritional yeast because I didn't have any on hand so I put in some capers and a squeezed lemon's juice instead). The texture and colour are great, however there is a very bitter aftertaste that is very off-putting especially for the kids. First taste is fresh and green and immediately after, comes a very bitter flavour.
Does the fact of letting it sit in the fridge a couple days make it less bitter ? Any tips otherwise to counterbalance the bitterness ?
Thanks !
Melanie McDonald says
Kale does have a pungent taste when it's blended up raw. That is balanced with the cheesiness of the nutritional yeast and the flavour of the almonds though. They all balance each other out nicely. The nutritional yeast is a BIG part of this recipe. It just isn't the same without it. Capers have a salty, sharp taste and lemon juice is sharp so you probably haven't done yourself any favours by adding them instead. It's not a good balance.
The kale flavour does mellow a little over a couple of days in the fridge when made as instructed, but as you haven't followed the recipe and the balance of flavours is off, I can't say whether yours will improve or not.
The nutritional yeast would really help make it more appealing to your kids palates, but bear in mind that kale isn't the most kid friendly ingredient to begin with, (unless they happen to be real lovers of it which most kids aren't).
Al says
The family loved it. We had it with pasta and made pizza!
Allie says
Thank you so very much! I look forward to trying out this recipe <3